‘So what do you think?’
Karl was scratching off a sticker from the plywood wall in the Internet cafe. He seemed to be getting very familiar with the small cubicle that had the phone inside.
‘Karl, London is burning, bruv. Do you pay any attention?’
‘I told you not to go.’
‘Easy for you to speak, Mr. Leggingitallovertheworld. I had no choice, man. They’re on my case. I’ve been trying to tell you that. ‘
‘You have people on your case anyway. What’s different?’
Was Karl actually interested? Or was this just a bit of half-hearted yes I hear you thrown his way?
‘You.’
Karl’s eyes followed Emmanuel, who sat on a low stool in front of the Internet cafe, polishing large men’s shoes madam had placed in front of him. His bare feet were covered in red dust. His legs ashy again.
‘I’m gonna be back much faster than you want me to. Trust.’
‘Are you listening or what?’
‘What are you on about?’
Emmanuel’s brush slowed down every time madam was out of eye contact. Karl smiled. What was the point of overextending yourself? Smart boy.
‘I’m trying to talk to you but you ain’t got no time for me, bruv.’
‘You, man. You are the problem. Everyone is on my case about you. On top I can’t even walk down the street without someone pushing into me, giving me shit.’
‘Come on, it’s not like this is against you or anything.’
Abu was quiet. Karl could hear him chewing his lip, shuffling from one leg to the other.
‘Abu?’
‘What?’
‘What’s up?’
‘Nothing. Forget it.’
‘Did something happen?’
Emmanuel was now showing off to Karl. The shoe was long sparkling but his lids moved up and down, secretively, checking: was Karl looking?
‘I miss you man. With or without you I’m getting stick for sticking with you.’
‘Tell me.’
‘It’s nothing.’
‘It doesn’t sound like it.’
Abu was still heaving, as if he’d run up the stairs, two steps at a time.
‘It’s just, I don’t know. You think I can choose or not. To do the right thing. Sometimes it comes out really bad instead.’
‘What the fuck happened, Abu?’
‘Someone got hurt.’
‘What do you mean, “someone got hurt”? I thought none of you were caught?’
‘Before the riots.’
‘Can you speak now, geez, how much invitation do you need?’
‘They were teasing me. Funny, just at that spot on Leigh Street. They were younger, not the usual bunch.’
‘What did they do to you?’
‘Nothing. That’s the thing. They gave me some lip; I gave some back. But …’
‘What?’
‘The woman …’
‘Which woman?’
‘From when I visited your mother. She had a friend over. She was really friendly. Talked a lot.’
‘Like non-stop, no pause?’
‘Must be Pat. She’s great but never shuts up. What about her?’
‘I don’t know why but she saw me and them, she was just coming out of the corner store there and told them to leave me alone. If they didn’t stop harassing me she’d call the police. They just thought, what is this old cow doing here? That’s what they said. Punched her. Maybe normally that would’ve been nothing but they must have caught her in funny way, maybe the angle, you get me. She just collapsed and looked at me with big eyes. They clocked that she knew me and made a runner.’
‘What did you do?’
‘What was I supposed to do?’
‘You left her?’
‘I didn’t leave her. I called an ambulance. She is in intensive care. Can hardly wake up. Ruptured lung. Had her rib broken, pierced the bloody lung.’
‘Shit. Fuck. Does my mum know?’
‘Course she does. She is doing the whole police thing, already filed a report. Just waiting for her to get well enough. You see, big time fucking shit. I have no choices. I get a call every day. If I don’t see them, they’ll walk me home. Whatever I’m doing, one of them always finds me. Every fucking day!’
‘Did you go to the police?’
‘Are you not listening? They are threatening me. Every bloody day. I need you back here.’
Karl didn’t know what to say. On John’s grainy TV the riots looked unreal. Blown out of proportion. He had only been gone a few weeks. How could there be so much fire? Abu was usually all mouth, no action. Could talk until Karl was sure he had died of an overdose of tonguelitis. Trouble got to him. Just like it followed Karl, it followed Abu, because he trotted behind him, chatting for King’s Cross, not watching out where he went, what was in front. He stumbled into stuff. Usually he was able to shrug it all off.
‘Karl, are you there? Say something. What am I supposed to do?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t know. Shit.’
‘Come back. I need you.’
The here, the where, the how to reach. The right timing that was what usually fucked things up. Wasn’t it?
‘You have to say everything to the police. It’s my mum’s friend.’
‘I need you here for that. So far I’ve been stalling. Come back.’
‘Shit, shit, shit.’ Karl went quiet. Emmanuel looked at him, eyes wide again. He got that word. Karl was thinking.
‘Tell Godfrey. He’ll take care of it. You know how he is; he probably knows their parents anyway. I’ll be back in no time. Not finished here. Difficult to explain but—’
It was quiet on the other side. Too quiet.
‘Abu, please. Just hear me out.’
But Abu had already hung up.
The choices, the wrongs or rights. What when where. Priorities.